Britain’s top public health servant Duncan Selbie denies claims Britain is a nanny state

He said: “It is not about telling people what to do, going around cutting cigarettes out of people’s mouths and saying they should not be drinking. I have never ever said that.

“We have given advice to say ‘drinking is enjoyable but you should try to have two days a week when you don’t because the evidence suggests it would be good for you’.

“I had somebody shout at me ‘Who are you to say when I should die?’ and I said ‘Die when you want to’.

“All we are doing is giving you the information to make these choices.’

Mr Selbie, chief of Public Health England, added: “It’s important not to say we are into nannyism. That winds me up because I never had a nanny in my life. It’s too important to leave it to the state. This is about individuals.”

He has backed interventionist measures, such as the sugar tax. And he urged hospitals to ban smoking anywhere.